dianec42

Tuesday I went to yoga. Wednesday I went to the "open knit" at the yarn store in town & started a new cross stitch(*). Thursday I did NOT go to free yoga at the library, because it was insanely nice out, so Mr Diane and I went hiking. Today I had a Zoom call with an old work friend.

Next week things in the big world will slow down due to the holiday. Next Friday we're having some friends over for Boxing Day, so there will be a great deal of snack prep and the concomitant cleaning-up.

I suspect my "doing nothing" is not the same as everyone else's "doing nothing", but why be normal?

(*) This is my "out and about" cross stitch project. It involves only whole stitches, is very high contrast, and as such does not require a ton of brainpower or super-good light. Most of all, it does not have any "difficult bits" so the odds that I will actually finish it are extremely high.

I'm doing the Autumn installment of an art nouveau set from about 2003. Unfortunately it was originally designed using Anchor threads and the DMC conversion is not very good. Two of the shades of yellow are basically identical, so I've been working on a substitution and may yet redo Spring. If I start redoing things I have a similar complaint about 2 of the shades of green in Summer... and should probably also use higher-quality fabric (I'm using a piece of Charles Craft aida which is shockingly badly off-grain).

Come to think of it I did also buy some stuff at the quilt shop on Wednesday (Q-snap extenders and a skein of DMC 973 which turns out the be ENTIRELY unsuited for the hoped-for purpose). I also tried but failed to score a smaller embroidery hoop (haven't seen my 8" q-snaps WHICH ARE PERFECT FOR THIS PROJECT since I moved). So the new project is living in an 11" q-snap square for the moment which is not ideal.

Thursday I walked into town and successfully bought additional embroidery floss. I love having small businesses nearby that I can support & that have things I need.

Pattern is from the book Cross Stitch In The Forest. I foolishly thought, “This is just 4 colors! It should be simple. And I can use threads from my stash!”

Dear reader, it was not so. One 123stitch order for DMC 988 and more 989, hours of eyestrain from working on dark fabric, and about a billion three-quarter stitches later, I can confidently state that I HAVE NOT LEARNED A THING and intend to start Upon A Star (the one with the wolf and the moon) pretty much any second now.

I don't usually go for decoration but I stole the conversation hearts idea from someone on Reddit and I thought it came out really cute.



February did not get off to a good start. At least I'm getting through some of the hundreds of heart stickers I somehow have.

I can't remember who I was chatting with about bullet journaling. So here you all go!

This is the monthly tracker section for January. This year's notebook is a bit larger than previous ones, and I've gone from 2 pages per month to 4. We'll see what sticks.

Similar trackers to last year, plus a bit that might get doodles or stickers. (On the layout test page it says "LOOK at all this SPACE" lol.)


New for this year, project-specific tracking and a bingo card of random shit I should do more.


I got this notebook from Cognitive Surplus and it's kinda gigantic. Also IT'S SO PRETTY. Here it is with some micron pens and what used to be the full set of Zebra Mildliner markers:

I got (most of) the purples done. I discovered some dark purple just below the bits I've finished. I also did quite a bit of nigh-indistinguishable pastels. Then I started doing dark brown on black and vowed never to complain about pastels again:



Now comes the black on black. There are some black stitches here, I swear there are. This is going to take a really long time.

Quilt progress has resumed. I am probably more than half done with block 4 of the tutorial. But one of the half square triangles came out a bit small. I may have to redo. Luckily not the one where I'm worried about running out of the fabric.



Edited to add: I finished it! I decided to live life on the (short) edge and just deal with the slightly-too-small block later, when I do the sashing.

Not too shabby - I'm mostly pleased with the points.

After messing up and cutting a set of 3.5" x 4.5" rectangle instead of 4.5" squares, I got the cutting-out part done reasonably quickly. I changed my rotary cutter blade because I was having some trouble cutting 3 layers. It turns out it was more of an awkward-angle problem, but it never hurts to be sure.

I improvised a design board from a lap desk and the sashing fabric to check the layout.


I sewed the block together and it's just about square! 2 of my points are perfect, the other 2 are a bit off (less than 1/8").


Here are block 1 & block 2 together. Wow the lighting in this entire house is terrible.

So. Much. Black.

The good news is, I get to work on some colorful bits now. The bad news is, most of those colors are pink. The things I do for my art.

As ever, click for the big version.

I'm thinking of getting a serger. Anyone know what's the best one to get? What features to look for?

Edited to add: I have my eye on the Juki MO-2000. Talk me out of it, I dare you.